New Idea!

So I’ve settled what I’m going to work on for my next writing project.

I wrote out a thought experiment in the late 2000s–could you call a extramarital relationship cheating if the pair never actually had physical relations? What would such a relationship look like? And what would be the fallout if the relationship was revealed?

Now as a society, we have a term for this kind of relationship–an emotional affair–and many writers have explored the ramifications of such relationships in both fiction and nonfiction. So even though it’s tightly written and tightly plotted, I don’t think this story would work for today’s readers.

So I got to thinking. How could I change it to make it more interesting? I knew I didn’t want to do a romance manuscript–that’s not really where my interests lie. The story was dual point-of-view; I could choose to center the male main character, Steven Burr, or the female main character, Melissa Benedict.

As I reread the work, I realized that Steven experienced no growth during the story as I had it, while Melissa did. So I decided to center Melissa’s story as one of her own transformation as she got older and more experienced at life.

But that would be kind of a plain story, too–a lot of that kind of work is out in the world as well. What kind of spin could I put on it to make it more mine and more Southern Gothic?

I’ve always been fascinated by the Cassandra myth–the prophetess blessed with knowledge of the future but cursed to always have her pronunciations ignored by the people around her. What if Melissa encountered such a person–and her life was upended? Would Melissa passively accept what’s happening to her–or would she seize what control she could muster over her life?

So. The die is cast. I’ll start in September, God willing and the creek don’t rise.